The F Word
by JB Blackwood
Summary: "You don't have to thank me or anyone else for treating you right, Starscream. That's just part of being...a friend." (TFP, AU)


_Universe: Transformers Prime_

 _AU setting: post-series, war's over, Megatron's dead, Cybertron not habitable yet, Autobots and any remaining 'Cons are still on Earth  
_

* * *

 **The F Word**

Starscream was trying to remember why he had let Knock Out talk him into coming to this...what was the phrase? The Drive-In? It was a crude set-up, even for humans, he thought. A cheap sheet stretched out between two trees while ancient recording devices projected the footage onto it was not exactly what Starscream defined as a refined source of entertainment. Even perusing their cheap, so-called 'information superhighway' would be a better waste of his time, Starscream couldn't help but think.

And yet young humans in their own personal vehicles, ones that were definitely not robots in disguise, had packed the area quickly as if this were something they actually looked forward to. They lined up by the dozens to partake in the activity of watching a stage production of a masked killer slaughtering several of their own species and cheering about it.

Perhaps humans and Cybertronians weren't so different after all, in retrospect.

"Are you that enthralled by the movie, or are you sitting there wallowing in your thoughts?" Knock Out asked bluntly. Being that his alternate form was an Earth road vehicle, he was accustomed to sitting closer to the screen where he blended in perfectly. That would have left Starscream alone though; a jet would have stuck out in this crowd. Instead, the two were perched on top of a nearby, small rock cliff that was behind the crowd and provided a good vantage spot.

Starscream's wings tilted downwards, turning his head away. It was embarrassing being called out. "What business is that of yours?"

"I was just making sure you were having _fun_. That _was_ the point of me inviting you along."

"Excuse me for being so disappointing then," the winged Decepticon grumbled under his breath. His claws dug into the rocky soil he was sitting on. Disappointing...weak...useless...

"Hey hey, lighten up, would ya? Wouldn't hurt to let yourself unwind."

The masked killer sliced his machete through another dramatically screaming victim, blood gushing out of them like a waterfall.

"Why are we watching this again?" Starscream asked flatly, though he wondered to himself if humans really bled that much. That _would_ explain why they were so...squishy.

"Because it was either _this_ or the rom-com playing a couple towns over, and I have to be in a certain mood to watch one of those."

"...rom-com? Forget it, I don't want to know."

"Oh, I think you do," Knock Out smirked playfully.

"No, I really don't."

"Oh but they're so wonderfully awkward and full of second-hand embarrassment moments!"

Starscream crossed his arms and looked the other way, chin up. "I'm feeling that way right now about _you_ knowing all this human culture trivia."

"Aww come on, you know you'd be bored and miss me if I weren't around, Screamer."

Starscream suddenly felt a fist jam into his shoulder followed by a laugh. His pupils shrank as his mind retreated into itself. Megatron's voice filled his head. Promises of punishment followed by their painful fulfillment swamped his senses.

Punches, kicks, getting thrown. Screams. Evil, mocking laughter.

Pain, always pain, no, please, no more, no-

"NO!" Starscream retaliated, twisting himself away from the attacker. He threw his arms up across his face, his wings dropped down as much as possible. Someone called his name out urgently, two hands coming towards him this time to try and pull his arms away. Starscream kept backing up, finally shoving forward. "Leave me alone!"

He stood there shaking for what was in reality only a few seconds though it felt like longer. He cracked his red eyes open, his optics flitting around in every direction as he attempted to calm down. He only remembered where he was when he saw Knock Out in front of him, just staring at him with wide eyes.

Right. Megatron wasn't here. He was safe. Why didn't he _feel_ safe then? Scrap, why did he do these things? Why couldn't he just _relax_?

Starscream couldn't take the humiliation of this, looking like an overreacting psycho in front of someone he was on relatively good terms with. He could feel his wings twitch, his body instinctively wishing to go into flight mode and escape this mortifying situation.

"Don't fly off," Knock Out spat out, his arms outstretched much like how someone would approach a corned dog they were trying to rescue. "I'm sorry, I forgot, you don't like getting touched, and I'm sorry."

Sorry...he said sorry...

"I, well, Breakdown and I used to do that sort of thing when... you know, hanging out, like nudging shoulders and fist bumps, that sort of thing, and...I guess I got all nostalgic, having someone to bro around with, and forgot you don't like that sort of thing, and I'm sorry," Knock Out kept rattling on, as if he were trying to explain himself before Starscream could flip into his jet mode and fly off, forever leaving things awkward between them.

How baffling. This was a foreign situation Starscream found himself in. He was being apologized to. He was being told 'sorry' for having upset him. As if his feelings mattered.

Knock Out didn't want to make any sudden moves, out of concern that he'd spook the still obviously shaken Starscream even more. After a few tense moments, Starscream finally turned around and sat down on a boulder, his wings still down.

 _'Nice job breaking it, genius,'_ Knock Out cursed himself mentally. As everyone well knew, Knock Out really missed his old partner, Breakdown, and would probably never fully get over what happened to him. Breakdown had been a "guy's guy", a real pal to kick back with after missions. Starscream on the other hand was one of the most emotionally damaged individuals in any solar system; he couldn't even let himself relax in stasis mode. One couldn't just be substituted for the other.

 _'Come on, Knock Out, fix this, you slaggin' idiot,'_ the red bot told himself before saying aloud, "Hey, you...gonna be okay?"

"Why do you care?" Starscream muttered bitterly, not looking at anything but the ground under his feet. "Or perhaps it is just protocol for you to ask, right, doctor?"

Ouch. "I wouldn't ask if I didn't care. I don't make a habit to get chummy with patients."

"Well thank you for deeming me as your special exception then." He was being sarcastic but his wings did lift up a little.

"You don't have to thank me or anyone else for treating you right, Starscream. That's just part of being...a friend."

'Friends'? Is that what they were? Friends...

"Now are you going to make me watch the rest of this horribly inaccurate human movie alone, or are you going to join me?" Knock Out asked, changing the subject. He wasn't sure if saying the "f" word was pushing it too far with someone as fragile as Starscream. "We're missing out on all the bad special effects and cringe-inducting teenager slang."

Starscream couldn't help but cough a single, amused laugh."It's not like I have anything better to do," he grumbled, getting up and (out of sheer embarrassment and nothing else) shoving past his fellow former 'Con without even looking at him. Knock Out just rolled his eyes in a playful way. He knew Starscream enough to know that if he didn't want to be there, he'd very gladly take off without hesitation.

After a few minutes of silence, with the exception of the screaming coming from the movie, Starscream asked, "I'm going to hate myself for asking this, but what's a...fist bump?"

If anyone had ever told Knock Out that one day the Commander would be asking him what a fist bump was, he'd tell them they needed to go get defragged. " _Well_ according to my research, it's a less casual version of a handshake, which seems to be a privilege among humans who run in the same pack." Research meaning "people-watching while cruising around aimlessly in alt mode".

"...handshake?"

"Nevermind. You put your fist up like this." He demonstrated. Starscream shrunk back a little. "I'm not going to punch you with it."

"I wasn't even thinking that!" Starscream fussed at him. He was totally thinking that.

"Okay, okay," he backed off. "Put yours up too."

Starscream very hesitantly put his up, wondering why he even asked about it.

"Then you just _very lightly_ tap it against the other person's." He didn't want to be the one who initiated it, what with how skittish Starscream was. "Well, go on."

It was probably the quickest, gentlest fist bump in all history, but he did do it. Starscream rubbed his hand as if he'd just burned it on something, a little amazed at himself that he just did something like that.

"Now was that hard?"

"No."

Knock Out couldn't help but let a small laugh out. "That was quite the Kodak moment."

Starscream gave him a rather questionable look. "A what?" Knock Out had very peculiar ways of saying things.

"Nothing."

Starscream waited a klick before he said, "So that's something...friends...do?" He said the word as if he had never uttered it before. He also stared at the ground as if he were embarrassed at having even said it.

"You got it."

"Oh...that wasn't so...bad," Starscream admitted. He had this goofy little smile on his face. "You're not so bad either, I suppose. Sometimes."

That was the closest to a compliment Knock Out was going to get. "Ditto, Commander," he said with a thumbs-up.

Starscream had no idea what any of that meant but he assumed it was another amiable human phrase/gesture. At any rate, he felt a lot better now than he had been. Maybe this whole 'having friends' business wasn't as impossible a feat as he thought it'd be.


End file.
